Title:
VALUE ADDITION OF COMMERCIAL WEANING FOOD

Authors:
Dr. Sweta Vyas

Abstract:
The consumption of CWF is increasing day by day. The present study was conducted on 100 infants (6-12 months age) of mothers aged 20-35 yrs. residing in Udaipur city and on 20 shopkeepers of markets of Udaipur. A pretested interview schedule was used to collect information from mothers about infant feeding practices and background information. It was found that majority of families were of hindu religion. Almost all the parents were literate and majority of them were highly educated. Feeding practices revealed that colostrum was discarded by 40 per cent mothers due to various reasons and 80 per cent gave different types of prelacteal feeds. Seventy percent mothers were giving breast milk at the time of study. Semisolids and/or solid foods prepared at home and/or purchased from the market either as ready to eat (75 %) or ready to prepare i.e. CWF (70 %) were also given to infants. CWF of different brands of Cerelac (47 %) and Farex (19 %) were given to majority of infants. Thirteen CWF sold in the markets of Udaipur city were studied for their nutritive value, cost and feeding schedule. All the foods were ISI marked with varied cost and nutritive value. Intake of CWF per serving size recommended by manufacturers for an infant of 6-12 months ranged from 25-50g with with 1-2 or 3-4 feeds per day in addition to milk. It means a mother will feed 50-100g of CWF per day which will cost her Rs. 16-18/day. Average nutritive value of CWF (per lOOg) compared with recommended dietary allowances revealed that energy was in inadequate amount protein in adequate amount and, vitamin and calcium in more than adequate amount. When compared with home made foods, the CWF were found to be costlier, shorter shelf life, and with almost similar nutritional value per serving of the weaning food.